Vermilion spikers swept in home debut

The Vermilion Ironwomen lost three straight matches - but showed signs of improvement - during a busy stretch last week.Rainy River spoiled the community college volleyball squad’s home debut - sweeping VCC 30-16, 30-19, 30-16 in Northern Division action.That droppped the Ironwomen’s season mark to 0-4, but the loss was not without its highlights.“We are making progess,” said Vermilion Head Coach Mandy Jelinek. “We’re digging the balls out of the net. We’re reacting quicker to the ball. I thought our coverage was better than in recent games and we really hustled. We just killed ourselves with mental errors.”Ely freshman Gena Jerich led the way for the Ironwomen, coming up with a team-high six kills. Teammate Jackie Funk added five.Molly Trombley set up the hitters with 11 assists, and Kristin Davis finished with nine digs.The previous weekend, Vermilion lost to a pair of division contenders.Central Lakes swept Vermilion 30-23, 30-18, 30-18, Sept. 10 at Brainerd. The following afterooon, the Ironwomen went to Thief River Falls and lost 30-12, 30-15, 30-15 to Northland.“We played two tough teams,” said Jelinek.Against Central Lakes, Jerich had six digs and five ace serves, Davis added four kills and six digs, and Trombley contributed six assists and six digs.Jerich had 12 digs, Davis had three kills and three ace serves, and Funk had six digs, four aces and three kills against Northland.The Ironwomen return to action Wednesday at Hibbing. They host Itasca Friday (6:30 p.m.) at the college gymnasium.“The team is working hard to smooth over rough spots,” said Jelinek. “The season is young.”